French airstrikes lay into rebels in Mali

NEW YORK TIMES

PARIS 
French airstrikes in Mali appeared to halt an Islamist rebel advance, France said Saturday, as West African nations authorized what they said would be a fast deployment of troops in support of the weak Malian government.

Britain also announced late Saturday that it would help to transport foreign troops and equipment to Mali, though would not send its own soldiers.

France first intervened Friday, dropping bombs and firing rockets from helicopter gunships and jet fighters after the Islamists, who already control the north of Mali, pressed southward and overran the village of Konna, which had been the de facto line of government control. French officials said the attacks had pushed the rebels back from Konna and destroyed a rebel command center, though it was unclear if Malian forces controlled the village.

The French, who had earlier said they would not intervene militarily but only help African troops, responded to an appeal by the Malian president amid fears that the rebels would try to press on to the capital. French officials said military operations were continuing, but a spokesman for the Malian army said Konna was "very calm" on Saturday.

The spokesman, Lt. Col. Diarran Kone, said some civilians and Malian soldiers had died in the fighting in recent days. "Zero deaths is not possible," he said.

He said the rebels, who he called "terrorists," suffered heavy casualties, and French officials said one French pilot had died from small-arms fire.

France, the United States and other Western nations have been increasingly anxious about the Islamists' tightening grip on the north of the country, which they said had become a haven for militants, including those with links to al-Qaida, who threaten not only their neighbors, but also the West. On Saturday, Adm. Edouard Guillaud, the chief of staff of the French armed forces, said France had no plans to extend operations to those northern areas, but would expect to help African troops do the job when they arrive.

''The quicker the African mission is on the ground, the less we will need to help the Malian army," Guillaud said. He said more military planes had been sent to Africa for possible use in Mali, and that Rafale fighter jets could strike from France. The French defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, also said that special forces had been sent before the airstrikes to Mopti, a city near Konna the Mali government feels it cannot lose.

The French president, Francois Hollande, said that the current French mission — named "Serval," after an African wildcat — would last "as long as necessary," but stressed that it was limited to "preparing for the deployment of an African intervention force."

The statements appeared to indicate that once Malian and other African troops were in position to carry the fight to the north, France would like to return to its pledge not to use direct military force in the country. It remains unclear when such an offensive would begin.

France and the United States aim to assist African and Malian troops to restore government authority in the north by providing surveillance and intelligence, including the use of spy planes and drones, as well as helping with logistics and the transport of troops and equipment.

French officials said they had asked Washington to speed up its contribution by sending drones to improve surveillance over the vast area held by the rebels. The French have only two such drones. The Pentagon is reported to be studying the French request.

On Saturday, Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said the United States was "monitoring the situation closely." The U.N. Security Council had earlier agreed that troops from the 15-nation regional bloc known as ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, and European Union trainers for the Malian army would help the fragile government in Bamako win back the north of the country, where the Islamists have set up harsh rule under Shariah law in the nine months since the army fled the area. But both groups had been slow to deploy.

With the sudden movement of the Islamist fighters south, the ECOWAS commission president, Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, said Saturday that the group had authorized an immediate deployment of troops "in light of the urgency of the situation," according to news reports. He did not specify how many troops would be sent to Mali. Most of the ECOWAS troops are expected to come from Nigeria, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

"By Monday by the latest, the troops will be there or will have started to arrive," said Ali Coulibaly, Ivory Coast's African integration minister.

On Saturday, Gen. Carter F. Ham, head of the Pentagon's Africa Command who has been visiting neighboring Niger, said, "My sense is that both AQIM and the Malian armed forces are evaluating next steps right now." He was referring to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, the organization's North African arm.

An official in Gao, one of the principal cities held by the Islamists, appeared to support the Malian army statements about rebel casualties. "The hospital at Gao is overflowing," said the official, who does not support the rebels. "Both morgues in the city are filled with bodies."

A spokesman for Ansar Dine, an Islamist group, told The Associated Press that he could not confirm if the group's fighters were still in Konna, as he had been unable to phone them. The spokesman, Sanda Ould Boumama, told Reuters that French intervention in Mali will have "consequences, not only for French hostages, but also for all French citizens wherever they find themselves in the Muslim world."

Fear of those consequences, at least for several French hostages held in North Africa, may have been a motivation for a failed French rescue mission early Saturday in Somalia in which Hollande said the hostage died. He also said that he had asked for increased security at government buildings and public spaces in France to thwart terrorists.

Le Drian said France needed to act in Mali to forestall the collapse of the government. "The threat is the establishment of a terrorist state within range of Europe and of France," he said. Hundreds of French troops have been moved into Bamako to protect French citizens there.